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April, 2006
I came across MaryJane’s magazine at Barnes and Noble. We made a stop to get reading material for a road trip and the title caught my eye. I had never heard of her or the farm, but what made me pick it up was the fact that there was a woman’s name in front of the word ‘farm’. I was intrigued and thought it would be a good read. Once we were on the road and I opened the magazine, I was so excited. I kept reading it out loud and carrying on about how awesome it was, because it spoke so clearly to my heart as to how I would love to run a farm if I had one. And all the wonderful homemaker ideas that just fed my soul. Not that I could do it on MaryJane’s scale, but just the thought that there is a whole country of women who love what I love and that I could connect with them made my heart sing.
Mom was going to give me MaryJane’s book for Christmas, but she couldn’t wait and gave me the book early. For that moment, I was as close to heaven as I could get while on here earth. It’s one of the only books, next to the Bible, that one can never tire of reading.
Thanks to MaryJane for sharing her dreams and experiences.
In His hands
Lynda
St. Louis, Missouri
The Farmgirl Connection
Dear MaryJane,
I didn’t grow up on a farm. My parents did and some of my best friends did, but the truth is, I’ve always lived in town. My childhood chores mainly consisted of feeding a bunch of feral cats who hung around our garage, walking the dog, cleaning out the rabbit hutches, digging up dandelions from the yard, and disappearing when it was time for my dad and brothers to butcher some of the rabbits.
More truth: I’ve lived in London, and loved every minute of it. Car exhaust, panhandlers, the jam-packed underground, edgy cinema, whiffs of Indian food emanating from so many tiny restaurants - all of it.
So why do I, with a house in town within walking distance of a great food co-op and farmers’ market, work so hard in the fall to get my pantry stocked with home-canned peaches and bread and butter pickles? Why do I get such a kick out of having a freezer full of green beans, zucchini bread, homemade borscht, and one quarter of a Highland steer raised by someone I know within an hour’s drive of my house? Why do I study the county fair rule book so carefully, planning this year’s baked goods and jam entries?
’Cause I’m a farmgirl at heart, that’s why.
Recently I quit my job as a bookstore manager to become a writer. It’s a profession that I love and works well with raising a child. But with more time at home I’m discovering an even greater benefit: I have time to do all the domestic, thrifty things my mother used to do that I swore I never would because they were just too much work.
Plant a garden. Water the garden. Weed the darn garden. Pick cherries from a neighbor’s tree. Pit the darn cherries. Bake cherry pie. Can my own applesauce from the apples off our tree. Hang laundry on a clothesline. Iron dish towels.
Unlike my mother, though, I iron and fold clothes in the evening while watching murder mystery videos. I have to buy the blackberries to make jam because I don’t know yet where they grow wild. I’m still a little scared of chickens, so I purchase my fresh eggs from a friend who really does live in the country.
I’m finding my way as an urban farmgirl, and I have a lot to learn.
But here’s something I’ve figured out already. Certain manual jobs around the kitchen and garden can be accomplished sitting down! If I was someone who did needlework or sewing I probably would’ve picked up on this sooner, but my mother didn’t cultivate that particular talent and neither did I.
I can’t say that I recall ever seeing my mother sit down except to read, but yesterday, faced with a peck of apples and a pair of tired feet, I took my apples, cutting board, and knife outside and sat down in a lawn chair to work.
Within an hour, the quartered and cored apples were bubbling away on the stove, softening up for applesauce. This sitting down stuff worked so well, I tried it with snapping green beans too. And then, with the basil, parsley, and cilantro I needed to de-stem for pesto. Success!
Now, I wouldn’t recommend sitting down while trying to prepare peaches or pears or anything else juicy for canning. But for apples or green beans it works great. I am glad to have found that “work” and “relaxation” are not mutually exclusive. This will make my farmgirl journey an easier row to hoe.
Which brings me to the best thing I’ve figured out: there’s nothing like manual labor to give you time to think. The brilliant idea even occurred to me that when the green beans are on the vine and ready for blanching and then the freezer, I could invite my friend Kathy, who has her own green bean patch, to join me in a day-long green bean-making gabfest in the backyard. How smart is that?
You just might make a farmgirl out of me yet!
Carol Price Spurling
Moscow, Idaho
Dear MaryJanesFarm,
Well, we finally did it! Our Oregon Farmgirl Chapter met and had a great time. Five of us met this time, and it was amazing to me how five women who don’t know each other can come together and talk as though they were old friends. We got to know each other for a couple hours, and then headed for lunch at a fifties-type diner. We talked more, then went to a flea market. Great fun there! We then gave parting hugs, knowing friends were made.
As we are spread apart, regular get-togethers are not practical, so we decided on having a newsletter and a round-robin card to keep in touch. I couldn’t have asked for a better day. Hopefully next time we meet, others will be able to join in. What a grand thing to meet women from different walks of life with the same interests and hearts!
Julia
Chapter Leader of Oregon’s Yarn and Garden Farmgirls Chapter
Hi Cindylou!
The first chapter meeting of the Boise farmgirls was a wonderful success! Five of my friends came, plus one lady who saw my flyer at the co-op. I passed out the goodies you sent us, and of course, had a copy of MaryJane’s book and magazine on hand for us all to look though. We even read out loud a few pages from the book! I had everyone say a few words about themselves, and we all had various ideas as to what we might like to do each month. Next month we are going to make homemade pasta and homemade ricotta cheese, and next we will go to my girlfriend’s house in Emmett, where she has five acres of land and 300 apple trees—we’ll pick apples and bake muffins and apple pies!
We all thoroughly enjoyed being introduced to and spreading farmgirl cheer. Thank you so much!
Sincerely,
Rita
Chapter Leader of Idaho’s Boise Farmgirls Chapter
Dear Cindylou,
The Boots, Bonnets and Braids chapter just had our first get-together. We had a total of nine girls—we’ll probably have three times that many at our next meeting. Everyone wanted to bring a friend next time—not to mention those that desperately wanted to come, but had other obligations. We had a wonderful potluck and talked, then I shared the MaryJanesFarm mags and book and we chatted, then we tried an ice-breaker game (like we needed it). After we finished laughing about the game, we talked about what the girls wanted out of our get-togethers, project ideas, etc. ... we started writing them down, but had so many we didn’t get them all down. (I’ve proposed to the girls that we meet once a month for a social gathering, and at that time decide on a few things we would be interested in doing that month and assign a day. For instance: 1st Sunday, social gathering; 2nd Sunday, canning; 3rd Sunday, make beeswax candles; 4th Sunday, spend time with the elderly and walk a labyrinth. This set-up allows them to pick and choose what they’re interested in, but then the large group can gather to socialize once a month.)
At our second get-together, we went from nine gals to twenty three gals. Wow! I was hoping it wouldn’t rain so the farmgirls wouldn’t have to go into my house. Otherwise, it’d be break out the shovels on account of the dust. But then I remembered, “You know you’re a farmgirl when there’s dust on your windowsills and mud on your boots!” Well the rain held back. We had a wonderful display of color on the clouds (which rivaled the colorful afghans we used to cover the benches—no splinters, warm buns). The clouds were also a beautiful backdrop for our incredible guest speaker, Janine Rees. Janine owns and runs the local apothecary in town, The Scented Path. Everyone enjoyed her talk and quiz—right answers received a related gift. (Funny thing, I won the organic German chamomile flowers for stress relief!)
Speaking of stress, I was worried about not having an agenda typed up, but I remembered this: “You know you’re a farmgirl if you can use a stick and some dirt for an agenda (windowsills work great!).” But I was able to find a whiteboard and the girls came up with some great projects for this month. The first project will be canning, led by Joanna, the canning wizard. (Her pineapple guava jam is incredible!) Our second project will be making beeswax candles and wreaths for our Thanksgiving tables. Danielle, with her wonderful artistic talents, will be leading the beeswax business, while glowing and multi-talented Wendy will be leading the wreath making (or possibly wearing a congratulatory wreath—her baby is due near then). We have loads of ideas of things we’re going to do and learn. Preview for next month: stress relievers—massage demo and herbal/aromatherapy neck pillows ...
Lindy
Chapter Leader of California’s Boots, Bonnets, and Braids Farmgirls Chapter
Dear MaryJanesFarm,
Last night I fell asleep HUGGING your book! [MaryJane’s Ideabook, Cookbook, Lifebook] My husband was on the computer, and suddenly heard a sniffle from my side of the room. He came over to see if I was okay, and I said, crying, “I love this book. I want to hug this book!” His reply ... “hug that book, babe! And in the morning, write them and tell them that you hugged their book.”
I have always been a farmgirl at heart, having SoupSundays at my house for anyone who needed a cup of comfort and some kitchen table therapy ... handmaking all of my gifts ...
Reading MaryJane’s book feels like talking to a friend. Bless you for being a part of this beautiful lifestyle and helping to share the old art of “each other.”
Lots of love,
Judes
The Farmgirl Connection
Dear MaryJane Butters and staff,
Last year my husband and I and our two daughters made a move that shook most of our friends and family. We left a beautiful $300,000 home in a upscale neighborhood and chucked it all to buy an 1880s farmhouse on five acres that needed, well, we will use the delicate term, renovation.
We couldn’t be happier. Anyway, it has been the greatest blessing to our family! So, before we venture into large livestock (although we are preparing for horses), we bought seven little Barred Rocks and Rhode Island Reds just this past March from our local farm store. We watched them grow up, loved them like babies, and they are now about twenty-something weeks old. They are just starting to lay treasures for us and we affectionately refer to them as our “girls.”
HOWEVER, here is my issue. Our local farm store instructed us to just feed them the usual “starter crumbles.” I always thought that the food looked pretty dry, unappealing, and just plain gross, but then I took a gander at the ingredients.
Okay, here is a teaser of what my girls are consuming: grain products, plant protein products, processed grain by-products, animal protein products (I can’t imagine what that is!), and then it goes on to list twenty five or more other ingredients which I have no idea what they are, not to mention cannot even pronounce! Things like pantothenate, and my personal favorite: ethylenediamine dihydriodide—okay, what is that?
Making a short story long, is this stuff okay? I am thinking not. AND, what is a good wholesome feed for my girls as they begin their laying years? I am thinking what goes in is coming out, and that is what we are consuming. We are not a totally organic family. However, I do grow organic veggies, and supplement my girls’ (chickens, that is) feed with fresh fruits, veggies, etc. But I do want to feed my chickens properly. Can you help? Thanks from northern Illinois.
Marianne Henze
Dear MaryAnne,
What on earth did our grandmothers feed their chickens before all these complicated “formulas” were invented? Up until the 1950s, when farmers started raising poultry in large buildings for the purpose of mass producing eggs, chickens got a good portion of their essential vitamins and minerals by running around outdoors eating greens, grit (used by chickens in their gizzards in place of teeth), weed seeds, worms, bugs, and table scraps. Since Illinois isn’t exactly an “afternoon drive” from where the Repps live in Washington State, the website where the Repps are listed (under their business name Northwest Organic Foods, LLC) also lists other sources throughout the U.S. that might be closer to you out there in Illinois. Go to attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/livestockfeed_srch.php
While you’re getting your chicken feed figured out, the Repps can ship you a 25-pound sack of organic feed that will go a long way if you supplement it like our grandmothers did. But you’re absolutely right. Feeding your “girls” properly means you’ll be eating eggs high in essential oils, protein, and trace minerals—minus all the weird, unnecessary things like ethylenediamine dihydriodide.
Organically yours,
MaryJane
Have any of you ever heard of the Rural Women’s Network? It is a wonderful network for women in the Australian outback who farm and live there. They offer a lot of help to their women farmers; they have awards, support services, annual gatherings, etc. Some of the women have families, and some of the kids even go to school via the radio! It’s wild. Visit them at www.agric.nsw.gov.au/rwn.
As I was reading some of their stuff, I was thinking about MaryJane and how she has given us our network. It may be a bit different, but we learn from each other, give support to each other, help each other, and always have a place to come together. She even has her annual Farm Fair gathering.
In the U.S., we don’t get a lot of help from our government— I spent most of the morning e-mailing N.J. congressmen about the demise of the family farms here—but we get help from one another, and I’m sure grateful for that.
Michele
New Jersey
The Farmgirl Connection
Dear MaryJanesFarm,
I don’t really think of myself as a farmgirl, which is absurd, because I come from a long line of farmers (dairy, pig, and chicken). I even grew up on a farm. We raised goats, sheep, chickens, rabbits (to eat), ducks, and an occasional pig. I even had a horse. I milked goats from the time I was about ten or eleven. We never thought of it as a farm. We thought of it as “the barn” and “the animals.” We had a huge garden, about an acre, and canned, dried, and preserved our harvest. I remember one Sunday morning having a huge breakfast and we looked down on our groaning table and realized that we had grown, raised, or made everything on it except for the salt and pepper!!
I remember thinking that was what my life was going to be like, and I looked forward to that. Somehow it didn’t work out that way, but that doesn’t stop me from trying to get back to it. I think that’s one reason I find MaryJanesFarm so special. Here, farming as I knew it is dying out. None of my family still farms. But, MaryJanesFarm reminds me that farming may be changing, but it’s not gone. And the people who love it aren’t gone either.
I love my garden (postage-stamp sized compared to the one we had growing up) and I want chickens and sheep (or maybe reindeer, wouldn’t that be fun!!!) and maybe even horses someday so I can ride with my daughter, who inherited her horse craziness from me and has nowhere to spend it. I love my wooden drying racks and my herbs and my flowers. I love the trees that give us maple syrup every year (even though we only make a dab). My son wants to keep bees and I’m thrilled.
I want ... I want MORE of this. I want my life to be full of this. And that’s why I love to listen to you all “across the fence.” So, hello and thank you all for your ideas, advice, and dreams. They inspire me.
Céleste
The Farmgirl Connection
I am a woman with a husband, but I am truly doing this on my own. I am plowing the land. Planting the seed. Finding the customers. I am scared and unsure, but some days things seem to fall into place and I think this was all a great idea. I am a cut flower farmer. I also have four children, already had the land, and didn’t want to be away from home. I am comforted by the thought of land and acres and acres of nature to surround me. My soul speaks to me in the outdoors, and it is there I find my comfort.
Terese
Ohio
The Farmgirl Connection
